Re: Lowest orbit and DeltaV


"Jim Relsh" <jrelsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:47f76$484fa12a$23972@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What's the lowest practical orbit for a satellite to be in? I think I read
somewhere that it was about 150km or so, but I keep wondering how they
determine this. And what is the corresponding DeltaV to get into that
orbit?

Not to sound like President Clinton, but that all depends on how you define
the word practical.

The ballistic coefficient of an object in a very low earth orbit has a huge
impact on how long it takes that object's orbit to decay. You could
determine the minimum orbital altitude which would keep a one ton sphere of
depleted uranium in orbit for a day, but is that really practical? Who
would orbit such a thing for such a short period of time?

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Lowest orbit and DeltaV
    ... And what is the corresponding DeltaV to get into ... huge impact on how long it takes that object's orbit to decay. ... determine the minimum orbital altitude which would keep a one ton sphere ... They/DARPA know exactly what you mean by that request. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Lowest orbit and DeltaV
    ... And what is the corresponding DeltaV to get into ... huge impact on how long it takes that object's orbit to decay. ... determine the minimum orbital altitude which would keep a one ton sphere ... That is a orbital velocity calculator and not a delta V calculator for ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Lowest orbit and DeltaV
    ... And what is the corresponding DeltaV to get into ... The ballistic coefficient of an object in a very low earth orbit has a ... determine the minimum orbital altitude which would keep a one ton sphere ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Lowest orbit and DeltaV
    ... And what is the corresponding DeltaV to get into that ... The ballistic coefficient of an object in a very low earth orbit has a huge ... depleted uranium in orbit for a day, ... because onboard film processing and digital scanning wasn't fully ...
    (sci.space.policy)